lick-dish

1) A by-name, said to mean 'parasite' and so was clearly perjorative.

This occurs as a by-name in Yorkshire from the early thirteenth century, recorded in an undated charter: toftum quod fuit Roberti Lyckedisc, Guisborough. Reaney has a twelfth-century example and it is found as a vocabulary item in c.1440. It is said to mean ‘parasite’ and can be compared with other apparently pejorative nicknames from that period, several of which were listed by Reaney. Additional Yorkshire references include: 1332 John Lekeblade, Wakefield

1337 Thomas Likbofet, Pickering. The frequency and variety of these names points to the importance of ‘lick’ in this sense in everyday vocabulary.

dates 1332 1337

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